The Valley Winery-Case 1.1Is the management of Valley Winery doing an acceptable job of hiring and training qualified employees? Management is the foundation of a company. They are the ones that make decisions which could make or break a company. They personify how the company and employees should act. If one is driven towards perfection in sales, many other important areas of the business could be overlooked. For example, maintenance of long term relationships with buyers would be overlooked. If management is pushing the sales reps to just go after the sale at any cost, reps could be looked at as unethical and even too pushy. Valley Winery management encourages reps to lie about how many cases of wine are sold to buyers. This is unethical and puffery. Pushing these sales reps to call their ethics into question, what does that say about management? Pat Waller, employee of Valley Winery, was recently promoted to sales manager of the San Francisco region's chain division. When he arrived, he was shocked to find that such a successful division had such a horrible turnover rate. How was the San Francisco division of Valley Winery obtaining their sales goals? He began to investigate and found many problems that were mainly stemming from management. The hiring process of Valley Winery needs to be revised. Mike Wehner, personnel manager for the San Francisco division, believes that employment agencies provide the most qualified applicants. If this is true, would the turnover rate be near 100 percent? According ., employees acquired from employment agencies yield high turnover rates. Top management places too much of an emphasis on youth and physical attributes. Sales representatives of Valley Winery should be groomed and well kept. However, youthfulness and physical attributes should not outweigh qualifications for the job at hand. Looks are important but qualifications and experience would not be overlooked. Businesses have an image they would...

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...Case One:
ValleyWineryValleyWinery, a favorable wine company, hired Pat Waller as their sales manager of the San Francisco region’s chain division. Although the company has had increasing sales for the past several years, ValleyWinery has its fair share of problems that have Waller worried. He is very aware of the competitiveness within the wine industry and is concerned thatValleyWinery will not be able to continue consistently increasing their sales.
Turnover rate is the number one issue at ValleyWinery. Every problem the company has bleeds into the turnover rate. The company’s turnover rate is currently at almost 100 percent a year; this is a huge issue that Waller must address. The existing sales rep employment average is seven months. There are many things that could be causing this problem. Often, sales reps are leaving the company quickly because they can’t meet their quotas. Hiring issues, which will be addressed later, are another contributing cause of the high turnover rate.
Sales reps’ aggressive attitudes are another issue that Waller will have to address. The ValleyWinery as a whole is receiving negative feedback. Sales reps are not “playing fair” when it comes to competition. They have been known to tamper with competitors’ merchandise, misrepresent displays,...

...The ValleyWinery is one of the nations largest privately help companies, and the top domestic producer of wine selling more than 40 percent of all wine produced in the United States. Valleys success is largely due to their high quality wine sold for a lower price, and a very aggressive and innovative sales force. Sales groups are separated into three main categories:
1) Liquor stores and bars
2) Restaurants, resorts, hotels, and motels
3) Chain Division
The company has experienced many sales organization changes in their San Francisco chain division; recently focusing on the importance of key customers classified as major accounts. Pat Waller was hired as sales manager of the San Francisco region’s branch, where he manages two are managers. The two area manages are responsible for nine district mangers, who supervise five to six sales reps each. Each sales rep is responsible for a certain number of stores from all major grocery chains, caring to all their merchandising, service, and miscellaneous needs related to ValleyWinery. Although the company has had favorable sales results in the San Francisco Region in recent years, Waller recognizes problems within the company and is concerned that the company will have difficulty in maintain their current status with the rapid increase of competition within the wine industry.
Key problems in the management of ValleyWinery...

...Situation
ValleyWinery has recently hired Pat Waller as sales manager of their San Francisco region chain division. There have been favorable sales increases during the past several years; however their sales force turnover is extremely high reaching nearly 100% a year. Pat Waller will be supervising two area managers who oversee nine district mangers with approximately fifty sales reps in the San Francisco region. The eighty year old company is the largest domestic producer of wine in the USA, with sales believed to have exceeded $1.8 billion in 2012. Two broad factors are traced to the company’s growth and success:
• Produces high quality at a low price
• Sales force uses a push strategy considered to be the most aggressive in the industry
The San Francisco division is broken down into three sales groups with each having a different compensation structure. Pat Waller’s chain store division uses a major account system that requires field reps to call into HQ’s of large chain stores. These reps have a straight salary ranging from $47k to $54k, plus a company provided car and a year-end bonus.
Key Problems
Improper recruiting and hiring process
Mike Wehner the personnel manager is responsible for recruiting the sales candidates. Recent college graduates, employment agencies, newspaper ads and job boards, and employee referrals are the methods used to attract candidates. No candidates are recruited from competitors or customers. These...

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The ValleyWinery
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Case Analysis
By: Paul Welge
Dr. Bob McDonald
MKT 4359
Section 1
ValleyWinery was founded in 1933 after the prohibition and has grown to be the largest domestic producer of wine in the United States. The brand has multiple product lines that include both low-price, consistent-quality wines and also low-grade wines and wine coolers. The company has had a hard time retaining its sales force and despite the short-term increase in sales, it is not a sustainable growth.
The company has struggled to retain its sales force and has a nearly 100% turnover. There are 50 sales representatives in the San Francisco but approximately 50 new sales representatives are hired each year. The average time a sales representative is with the company is seven months. ValleyWinery recruits 10 to 15 new sales reps from area universities, 10 hires from local newspaper advertisements and online job postings, and 15 to 20 representatives are hired through the use of six local employment agencies. The employees hired through the employment agencies cost the Winery approximately $3,000 per individual. It is also figured that recruiting and training each representative cost the company $30,000 per year. Pat Waller, the sales manager for the San Francisco...

...of gender diversity is apparent in the different sales areas and most males become managers.
2. What are the causes of the problems facing Waller?
The causes to the problems mentioned have resulted from the recruiting and selection process. The employees are unmotivated due to the unrealistic goals, as they are encouraged by management to misrepresent their sales numbers. Training and mentoring appears to be non-existent with just one day of shadowing that appears to give an unrealistic job expectation. Overlapping of territories has contributed to the high turnover rate. The aggressive cultural of the company does not allow the sales person positively develop their skills or reflect true sales numbers. The sales reps of Valley are disliked in the industry, possibly creating a negative work environment.
3. What steps should Waller take to resolve his problems?
Change the recruitment and selection process by using an HR department that can select quality employees based upon department needs and processes. Also further gender diversity needs to be expanded to all lines. Establish a training and development program that can help initiate new employees into the corporate culture and aid in creating realistic expectations. Open up a commission based structure for all lines of sales; change the incentive base and performance with a balance scorecard system. Another recommendation is changing the sales culture by implementing a top...

...186
Part One
Formulation of a Sales Program
Case 1.1
The ValleyWinery
Pat Waller, recently hired as sales manager of the San
Francisco region's chain division, was lamenting the
problems he inherited. Despite favorable sales results for
the San Francisco region, turnover was so severe Waller
could not understand how sales increased during the past
several years. He was surprised to learn the average sales
rep had been with the San Francisco division of ValleyWinery for only seven months and sales force turnover
neared 100 percent a year. In fact, only one sales rep had
more than two years' experience. Waller had heard that
high turnover was a problem nationwide but did not expect such high figures for San Francisco.
Waller supervises two area managers, who in turn direct nine district managers. District managers supervise
five to six sales reps, of which there are 50 in the San
Francisco division. Approximately 50 new sales reps are
hired each year, but the sales force size remains relatively constant. Waller knew the increased competitiveness in the market would make it more difficult to
continue to obtain future sales increases. The excessive
turnover problem would command immediate attention.
THE COMPANY
The ValleyWinery, founded in 1933 inNapa, California,
is the largest domestic producer of wine in the United
States. Started with only...

...Case 1  The ValleyWinery
The ValleyWinery is an example of management malfunction because some top-managers are promoting unethical behavior and lack of credibility. High sales force turnover is the main problem this company is facing; however, high turnovers lead to employee dissatisfaction and unethical behavior. In addition, the company is putting on risk many of its relationships with their customers.
Pat Waller was recently promoted to sales manager of the San Francisco chain division. When he arrived, he was shocked to find that such a successful division had such a higher turnover rate. How was the San Francisco division of ValleyWinery obtaining their sales goals? Mr. Waller began to investigate and found many internal problems that were mainly stemming from management.
§ High Turnover
First of all, the hiring process of ValleyWinery needs to be revised. Mike Wehner, personnel manager, erroneously believes that employment agencies provide the most qualified applicants. The use of six local employment agencies, with fees of approximately $2,000 per hired individual, resulted expensive and ineffective. Secondly, management places too much of an emphasis on youth and physical attributes. ValleyWinery sales representatives should be groomed and well kept because the company has a neat image and would...

...Northern Napa ValleyWinery Inc. Future Sales Forecast Report
Prepared by: Karriem Pierre
November 20, 2011
Nova Southeastern University
Business Modeling, Fall Semester, Online Course
Professor Phillip S. Rokicki, Ph.D
Executive Summary
Ms. Quintana CEO of Northern Napa ValleyWinery Inc. was considering conducting business with Trans Continental stores to sell excess grapes from the 2008 harvest. Prior to making a decision Quintana must determine how much of the harvest should be retained for the production of Northern Napa’s own red table wine. Quintana realized that the quantity of red table wine produced is closely associated to the sales.
Ms. Quintana reviewed her past sales in order to predict future sales based on the amount of wine produced in 2008. The issue Quintana faced was the seasonality of wine sales; December being its peak time in sales. After careful consideration, Quintana determined that although her previous forecasting method had worked from an operational standpoint, however, there was still room to improve its accuracy. Quintana has to determine what the forecasting profits will be for the next 16 months (Sept2008 to Dec 2009) prior to the conclusion of any business deals with TransContinental.
The software that was used in order to predict the future sales was StatTools. StatTools provided me with four...